Indian street food

In this part of the blog I will post information about so called Indian fast food or street food sold at street stalls in many cities and towns of India. I will list here the most popular street food that are available in almost every city of India, mostly veg and the most delicious.

Fast food in India is not kebabs,  fries or hot dogs Indian street food is a whole bunch of various mini dishes or snacks that can be bought extremely cheap at street stalls. They are seasoned, aromatic often fried in deep oil with  addition of sauces and they simply taste amazing. From my point of view, they are much healthier than those available in Europe due to the fact that they are largely vegan, with a large amount of spices, which, as we know have a huge pro-health effect and are prepared from the scratch, mostly without any half-products.

Indian street food is also a great idea to discover the flavors of India or get to know India through the sense of taste. The people here love street delicacies and festivals of street food  which are often organized in India. Places that are worth choosing for a tour of India street food are larger cities such as - Delhi (especially Old Delhi), Mumbai (around Colaba) or the surreal city of Varanasi. The capital of India is one of the best places for street food, Delhi offers a variety of roadside street stalls.

Indian street food raises a lot of controversy among foreigners due to a common opinion on low hygiene standards of street food outlets and  belief that there is a high risk of getting gastric problems or other diseases. In this article I do not want to absolutely encourage to this type of food especially people who are in India for the first time and want to avoid health problems. However, in India you can find a lot of nice-looking street food stalls and maybe tourists should choose such places to try Indian street food combining such an experience with eating food in good restaurants.

It should also be emphasized that most of the dishes are deep oil fried dishes.Number one among India street food is undoubtedly

1. Samosa - a triangular dumpling fried in deep oil or sometimes baked in an oven with vegetables and spices with the addition of hot sauces.

2. Momo - Nepalese cuisine, but available in many places in India (especially in Delhi) - small flour steam cooked dumplings with vegetables or meat prepared ...... with the addition of sauces.

3. Veg or chicken noodles

It is  thin pasta with vegetables or chicken prepared in a wok with a choice of sauces. In India, a version of Maggi is also available, i.e. pasta from the Maggi packet with the addition of fresh vegetables.

4. Aloo tikki

That is the most delicious snack of the state of Uttar Pradesh. It consists of boiled potatoes and various spices served hot with sauce.

5. Vada Pao

Mumbai, the Indian version of the burger and the most popular dishes straight from the heart of Maharashtra. Vada Pao is the most liked and important food product, it consists of fried potato noodles called vada served in a roll, with toppings such as red or green chutney and fried green chili peppers. The famous vegetarian fast food comes from Maharashtra.

6. Chole badhure

Punjabi dish, but very popular in the cities of India especially in Delhi. It is a white chickpea with fried maida flour in deep oil. Chole badhure is often consumed with lassi.

7. Idli sambar

A common breakfast product served with a combination of chutney and sambar. Idli or flattened rice flour dumplings and spherical lentils with sambar. Sambhar - the type of sauce that tastes so good with idlis is made of tamarind and peas.

8. Mirchi bajjis

Cities such as Hyderbad or Jodhpur are famous for Mirchi bajjis - a popular snack consisting of chilli sausages in deep-fried batter, sometimes stuffed with other vegetables.

9. Litti Chokha

It's the best breakfast, lunch and dinner and one of the most important delicacies in Bihar cuisine. Prepared from whole grain flour stuffed with sattu (black chana powder), herbs and spices baked, and then sprinkled with ghee. 

10 Poha or poha jalebi

Fried flakes of flattened rice cooked with onions, potatoes, curry leaves and coriander properly seasoned.

11. Jalebi - deep-fried Indian sweets made from maida and sugar syrup

12. Bread omelette or egg roll - i.e. omelette in bread or egg rolls sold, for example, in Calcutta